MONTEREY &GT;&GT; A new event coming to Del Monte Beach will have activities for both landlubbers and those who like to jump right into the water.

The Monterey Beach SportsFest takes place Oct. 4-5. It will combine two recent events at Del Monte Beach, the Monterey Beach Open volleyball tournament and the ocean water polo exhibition. It debuts events including open water swims, an expo focused on health and environment and a triathlon which combines swimming, strength activities and beach running.

“We”re trying to provide health and wellness for people as well as ocean conservation for our community and our oceans,” said Terri Bilbro, co-founder of the event. “Monterey”s never done an event like this. We did kind of a partial event like this last weekend with the Monterey Beach Open volleyball tournament. … This is the first time they”re going to ever do anything like this on the beaches of Monterey and I think it”s going to be pretty impressive.”

Bilbro said the organizers hope to include more events in future years if things go well with the inaugural event. She hopes the event can become something similar to the Semana Nautica in Santa Barbara, a summer sports festival that is on its 77th year.

“It”s going to be a learning experience and we want to make it better every year,” she said.

The Healthy People, Healthy Oceans Expo at the SportsFest is part of a focus on connecting people with the Monterey Bay.

“The components of ocean conservation and wellness complete the circle of environmental stewardship and health for all athletes, their family and friends,” co-founder Pete Albers said in a news release.

Bilbro explained how people in the Monterey Bay area are connected to the ocean. Even if some people don”t participate in the athletic events, Bilbro hopes the event will bring the community together.

“When you take care of yourself, you can take care of your community,” she said.

People from the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary are excited for the debut event, according to Bilbro.

“Their thought was that our bay is underutilized,” she said. “It”s not like they want to overutilize it, we don”t want to see a lot of motor vehicles in the water, but I don”t know if people really understand the bay that we have.”

Typically, people from the Monterey Peninsula have to drive up to Santa Cruz for events like this, Bilbro said. She hopes locals, people from all along the Central Coast and tourists will all stop by and enjoy the event.

“We want to inspire locals to take part and we want to inspire people outside of Monterey to come down and take part in this,” Bilbro said.

The event starts at 8 a.m. on both days and goes until 5 p.m. See montereybeachsf.com for more information and to register for events.